


Is it really you?

by Selene467



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-17 05:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3517970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selene467/pseuds/Selene467
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gohan has nightmares after the event on Namek. Nightmares about Goku turning into Frieza. When Goku finally comes home, the reaction from his son is highly unusual. Gohan struggles with one question: Is it really daddy?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is it really you?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one-shot I wrote nearly six years ago. I'm uploading it on this site now in hopes of inspiring myself into the fandom again as I've got dragonball z stories ongoing for a long while now and feel the need to finish them.
> 
> This one-shot is a little AU, I'll explain at the end if you didn't see it.

Disclaimer:  I do not own DBZ or its characters!

 

**Dragonball Z**

_One-shot_ **-** _Is it really you?_

The sun shown through the slight opening between the curtains. A soft breeze blew through the open window, gently blowing the curtains upwards. As gentle as the curtains were blown up, just as gentle did they fall back down as the wind retreated.

The sunlight shown on a young boy, asleep at his desk with his head on his books and a pencil in his hand. His breathing was relax and steady.

Then a strong wind blew inside ruffling the boy's hair in several directions. The boy's face scrunched up. It wasn't from the wind. He was dreaming.

_Gohan opened his eyes and closed them quickly as he looked straight into the sunlight shining_ _through his curtains. He stood up and walked over to his window and opened the curtains. The bright sun shone sharply in his eyes and the boy had to look away from the intensity._

_He glanced at his desk where the pile of books lay waiting to be used. He didn't want to disappoint his mother, but he couldn't sit still anymore. He was so full of energy, probably from his little nap just now, and it was such a nice day. Deciding he could take a short break, Gohan leaped out the window and disappeared into the forest._

_Gohan was walking through the forest peacefully when he suddenly halted with a look of utter shock._ _However it soon became a look of pure joy and happiness at the sight before him._

_He broke into a run and jumped up to the man standing before him shouting; "Daddy!"._

_Goku easily caught Gohan and swung around with his son. He then stop moving around and just hugged his son tightly. Gohan was doing the same and it even seemed like he would never let go anymore._

" _Hey little man" Goku said gently to his six year old son. Gohan snuggled deeper in his fathers chest and smiled wider at the mention of his nickname. "You missed me that much?" Goku asked knowing the answer._

" _Much more!" Gohan said with teary eyes as he pulled back from his fathers' chest to look at his face._

" _That much?!" Goku asked jokingly knowing how much Gohan must have missed him. Gohan just nodded exasperatedly before snuggling up to his fathers' chest again._

_Goku embraced his son a little tighter in response. Gohan kept sobbing and had even grabbed hold of his fathers' gi so he would never go away again._

_After a few minutes Gohan felt his father squeezing his shoulder, like he used to do as a sign that Gohan was very important to him and he never wanted to be parted with him._

_However it soon became closer to a strong grip followed by nails being dug into his skin. Gohan winced inaudible and pulled away from his fathers' chest to see his face. His dad was grinning, but not like he always grinned. It was scary, evil._

_Gohan yelped in pain when his father increased his tight grip even drawing a slight sliver of blood._

" _Daddy! You're hurting me!" Gohan whined in pain and confusion. He didn't understand why his dad would hurt him._

" _I'm not your father, boy!" Goku spoke with a snake-like voice. Gohan's eyes widened in fear when he saw his fathers' face morphing._

_Gohan pulled free and landed on the ground. He backed away as his father became someone else. Gohan couldn't help but tremble a bit at the sight before him. A maniacal laugh came from the man who only minutes ago looked exactly like his father._

_Before Gohan now stood…Frieza._

" _Miss me, monkey boy?!" Frieza spoke with his snake-like voice. This caused a shiver to run over Gohan's back._

" _Where's my daddy!?" Gohan shouted angrily._

" _Your monkey father is never coming back! He's finished! You'll never see him again!" Frieza said laughing._

_Gohan clenched his hands into fists. His power was growing steadily with every laugh from Frieza. Frieza stopped laughing and merely grinned at Gohan._

_Before Gohan knew what was going on Frieza rushed forward and slammed him backwards into a tree. The mere impact was painful enough, but Frieza also kicked him in the stomach causing the tree to break and Gohan to fly back further. Gohan felt the air abruptly leave his lungs upon hitting the ground. Frieza smirked as he watched the boy crash on the ground._

_Gohan lay still a few minutes before finally rolling over on his tummy and slowly pushing himself up. Gohan then slowly turned around to face Frieza, only to find him towering over him. Gohan couldn't help but be afraid._

_Frieza grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. He smiled evilly at him before his face morphed back into Goku. Gohan was confused and seeing his fathers' face reassured him for a few seconds._

_Then the face turned back into Frieza's. He then kicked Gohan again in the stomach sending him flying away again. Gohan crashed against a big rock and fell face forward on the ground._

_Gohan refused to cry from the physical pain, but the emotional pain was so hard to control. He thought his daddy was back and now this evil monster took his place. He had been fooled so easily just because he missed his dad so much._

_Slowly Gohan stood up again and faced the tyrant before him. Frieza was grinning in the sickly way he always grinned. Once again his face morphed back into that of Goku's and Gohan found himself frozen a few seconds again._

" _You're easy to fool, monkey boy!" Frieza said with Goku's face still visible. Gohan closed his eyes trying to calm himself down. "Can you even tell the difference?" Frieza asked._

_Gohan opened his eyes to see not Frieza, but his father looking concerned. "What's wrong Gohan?" Goku asked with that gentle voice, that voice Gohan longed to hear so long and thought he heard minutes ago._

_Gohan didn't know what to do. It couldn't be his daddy even though his wanted it so badly. It was just Frieza trying to trick him. It wasn't his daddy, it couldn't be._

" _Gohan? Little man?" Goku asked kneeling down to his son's height. Gohan forced his eyes shut. If he looked at him, he would be fooled again. He couldn't look._

_Gohan then froze when two strong, but gentle arms surrounded him in a hug. Goku pulled his son closer to him and Gohan couldn't help but feel safe and happy._

_Then all Gohan felt was pain. He pulled away from his daddy slowly and looked down at his stomach. There was blood covering his entire middle body. He saw the hole in his tummy from where all the blood was flowing out and it didn't just flow out the front. Also his back was covered in blood, his blood._

_Gohan looked at the face of the man before him. It still was his daddy who had a single finger pointed at his stomach. The finger moved higher pointing at Gohan's heart. It then starting glowing purple. The face of his daddy changed into Frieza once more, laughing crazily again._

" _You are a fool, just like your father!" Frieza said laughing before he shot his deadly beam right through Gohan's heart._

"AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!" Gohan screamed in pain. He then felt himself collide with the ground. He looked around while holding one hand over his heart.

He lay on his back still sitting on his chair which had fallen backwards with him. A few papers were scattered around the desk. Gohan stood up and lifted his chair in the right position.

Just as he did that, his door swung open crashing into the wall and his mother stood panting in his doorway.

"Gohan! Are you alright!?" Chichi asked rather loud and panicked before rushing to her son and almost hugging him to death. "You scared me! What happened honey?" Chichi asked now in a less panicky voice.

"I'm fine mom" Gohan responded. Chichi let go of her son and looked him closely in the eyes. Gohan felt like looking away, but that would only prove he wasn't fine.

"Tell me what happened?" Chichi asked demanding. It wasn't harsh, just urgent.

"Nothing. I kinda…..dozed off" Gohan said barely audible afraid his mother would explode hearing he fell asleep during studying.

"You had a nightmare?" Chichi asked slightly upset at hearing her son was sleeping while he should study, but her mothers instincts told her the nightmare was more important.

"It's nothing" Gohan said again and before Chichi could argue that it was indeed something, the phone rang. Gohan rushed out of his room desperate to not have to tell his mom what he dreamed.

"Hello, Son residence?" Gohan answered the phone.

"Hey Gohan! You felt it right?!" a very familiar voice responded rather urgent, but happy.

"Krillin? Felt what?" Gohan asked confused. It stayed silent for a moment before Krillin spoke again with some disbelieve in his voice.

"Yeah it's me! You telling me you didn't sense him?!" He asked. Gohan's face scrunched up at Krillin's lack of explaining.

"Felt wh…." Gohan began asking again when he suddenly sensed something far away, but very familiar. "Dad?" Gohan wondered out loud with the horn still next to his face.

"Finally, you sensed it!" Krillin shouted happily. "Meet ya there" Krillin finished before hanging up the phone.

Gohan stood perplexed still holding the horn when Chichi entered the room. Slowly as if dazed Gohan hung up the horn. That ki signal, his daddy's ki signal, he was back.

Gohan didn't know what to feel. He was happy off course, but he was also nervous. A short image of his nightmare flashed through his mind. Gohan quickly shrugged it off and rushed out the house.

"Be right back mom!" Gohan shouted happily as he flew into the sky. Chichi stood perplexed in the doorway before shouting angrily at her son for leaving like that.

* * *

 

Gohan didn't know how fast he could fly, until today. He never flew that fast before, it was like an adrenaline shot. His daddy was back!

It didn't take long before several familiar ki's powered up and closed in on his position. Too eager to see his dad again, Gohan didn't slow down to let them catch up.

A few minutes later, Gohan sensed the others were now within sight range behind him, but he didn't bother looking back, because he saw something in the distance. It looked like a small round ship of some sort. Gohan realised as he came closer that it was a space pod like Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta came in.

"Hey Gohan!" A familiar voice cried out behind Gohan. Not long after, Krillin appeared next to the eager child.

"Hey" Gohan's reply was short, but with a tone that could only be described as pure happiness. Krillin smiled happily back.

The rest of the group caught up and the group descended to the ground by the space pod. Gohan was about to run forward, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Gohan looked up in the face of Piccolo. His face looked blank, but Gohan knew better. He could tell Piccolo was somewhat happy, but also wary.

"Lets make sure this is really Goku" He spoke to everyone. Even though they could clearly sense Goku's energy signal, it was wise to be safe and everyone kinda trusted Piccolo now.

Hearing Piccolo's words, Gohan couldn't help but recall his nightmare. Everyone's attention was drawn back to the pod when the sound of air escaping a cramped space reached their ears. They watched fascinated and anxiously as the pod opened and two hands gripped the sides to pull out of the pod.

Gohan's heart nearly froze when he saw white hands. He immediately had a flashback to his nightmare. _Frieza's hands holding him by the collar of his shirt, Frieza's hands lashing out at him, Frieza's hands morphing into pinkish skin, Frieza changing into daddy…._

"Goku!" The shout pulled Gohan out of his flashback and he quickly looked up to see his friends surrounding someone by the pod. Gohan couldn't explain why, but all of a sudden he felt nervous, tense and…scared?

"It's so good to see you again!"

"How are you?"

"Where were you?"

"How did you escape?"

"What are you wearing?"

The questions floated passed Gohan in a daze. He heard them, but they didn't quite reach him. Gohan's eyes were open, watching nervously at the moving silhouette in the middle. He wasn't very visible, but from the reaction of his friends it was his daddy.

_So why was he so nervous? Why was he so tense? Why didn't he push passed them all and hug him? Why was he so…scared?_

All of a sudden everything went quiet. He never heard the man in the middle speak, he never heard the question about Gohan's whereabouts. He didn't notice anything, until he felt many stares on him.

Gohan nervously looked up and he looked straight into small and evil, reddish eyes. A flare of panic shut through him and he took several shaky steps back. Just as he was about to raise his ki-level, the voice of the man reached his ears.

"Gohan? What's wrong?"

Gohan blinked several times. The image of Frieza started to blur and then it became clear again. However this time, it wasn't Frieza standing before him. It was…

"Daddy?" Gohan's voice was filled with mistrust and anxiety. This confused everyone present.

Gohan felt his suspicion rising from the strange illusion just now. Desperate for the truth Gohan sensed the ki-signal before him. It was exactly like his dad's, but Gohan refused to believe that. He had seen Frieza, maybe the others hadn't, but he saw him. It couldn't have been an illusion.

Gohan knew deep down, he was just paranoid from his nightmare, but his mind was on overload now and he couldn't think straight. When his irrational mind came up with the nightmare being some sort of warning, Gohan was hard decided this wasn't his daddy.

Goku looked very worried at his son, as did all the others. There was definitely something wrong here. It seemed Gohan was scared of him, but that didn't make any sense.

Goku then sensed something. It was very small, but he sensed it. His son's ki was wrapping around his own. His son was sensing his ki. Was Gohan trying to determine if he was really Goku?

Worry wrapping like a blanket around him, Goku reached out to Gohan and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. The reaction was instantaneous.

Gohan flinched from the touch and took a step back. Goku, shocked at the reaction, pulled his hand back and simply stared at his son. Carefully he took a step forward, but that only resulted in Gohan stepping back multiple steps.

Gohan had by now closed his eyes and was simply responding on instinct. Flashes of Frieza morphing into his daddy and the other way around, replayed over and over again in his mind.

When Goku had touched his shoulder, all Gohan saw was Frieza lashing out at him. The touch itself was registered as painful all because of a simple flashback.

Goku moved forward again trying to get to his son, but Gohan sensing the movement and feeling all his fear and disbelieve from his nightmare, stepped back.

Seeing this, Goku fears his son hates him for not coming back sooner. "Gohan, I'm sorry son" Goku spoke up surprising everyone and confusing them as well. What was he apologising for?

Even Gohan seemed to be listening, but he kept his eyes closed tightly. He didn't dare open them. If he did, he knew he would see Frieza or his dad turning into him. It was an irrational though, but those were all Gohan had at the moment.

"I'm sorry for not coming back sooner. I was stranded, Gohan. I'm so sorry" Goku continued.

Inside Gohan's mind the words "coming back" echoed around with Goku's voice. Then they turned into Frieza's voice and said "NOT coming back!". Gohan couldn't restrain from a slight whimper audible for Goku and the others.

Paternal instinct taking over, Goku jumped forward and hugged his son. To his own and everyone else's shock, Gohan struggled against the hold as if someone was kidnapping him.

"He _**is**_ coming back!" Gohan shouted while he struggled.

"I'm already back, Gohan. I'm back and I'm not going anywhere! What's wrong, Gohan?" Goku tried to reassure his 6 year old.

Gohan eventually opened his eyes and Goku saw the fear in them. Gohan was waiting for Goku to turn into Frieza and the horror of that memory was shown on his face. Gohan's anxiety grew with every second that nothing happened.

Gohan suddenly pushed away from Goku not wanting to be in his grasp when he changed. Goku seeing the horror on his son's face, let go of him. Gohan immediately stumbled backwards keeping a fair distance between himself and his daddy. In his haste he tripped over his feet and fell on his butt.

"Gohan! What's wrong buddy?!" Krillin asked among the other questions from the z-fighters. Everyone was deeply worried for this strange reaction Gohan was having.

Goku didn't say anything or ask anything. He was silently looking at his son with nothing but guilt on his face. This confused Gohan. Why was he feeling guilt, unless….? Shaking his head, Gohan clenched his hands into fists ready to defend himself.

Then Goku spoke up, silencing everyone and gaining Gohan's full attention. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not coming sooner, but I'm here now. I can understand if you doubt I'll be here, you probably think I'll leave soon again and you'll be alone. But I'm not Gohan. I could never leave you or your mom willingly. I love the both of you. I'm so sorry for letting you feel so lost"

Many thoughts raged through Gohan's mind. Gohan ignored them as he focussed on his 'dad's' ki-signal. He still hadn't found anything wrong with it and those words…the words his 'dad' spoke…

Tears started forming in Gohan's eyes as he realised this was really his daddy and nothing bad was going to happen. With a shaky voice, shaky from relieve and not fear, Gohan spoke one word.

"Dad" It was just above a whisper, but to Goku is sounded like a shout. His boy finally accepted his presence.

Suddenly Gohan got on his feet running towards Goku. He jumped into his father's embrace and both held onto the other tightly.

"It's really you! It's daddy! You're really daddy! It's really you!" Gohan shouted while sobbing. Hearing this Goku realised that Gohan wasn't hurt or angry or anything like that. He feared it wasn't him, that he was a fake.

"I thought you weren't daddy! You kept changing every night! I'm sorry daddy!" Gohan continued to sob. Goku's eyes widened as he heard this. He kept changing every night?

As if a light went on in his head, Goku realised Gohan had been suffering from the same nightmare for a while now.

Feeling his son slump in his hold, Goku knew he had fallen asleep, or more like cried himself to sleep. He turned around to his friends to tell them he was going home. But there was no need to speak at all. They all smiled at him understanding what he wanted to say.

Goku smiled back and then flew away in silence. He wondered how Chichi would react to his return. He definitely hadn't expected Gohan to react this way. But none of that mattered anymore.

He was back and he'd never leave them again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> The AU-part is that Trunks isn't there to show them where Goku is appearing and Frieza and his father aren't here. It was just a little story diving deeper into the trauma Gohan went through and how it could have affected him.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it, if you did please leave a comment.


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